Penny Goument extends her heartfelt thanks to the Knysna community for the wonderful reaction to the report of her missing husband, resulting of course in his safe recovery late in the day.
On Sunday 15th September 2019, Penny called Allsound shortly after 10.00 to report her 85-year-old husband missing, last seen at around 09.00, and informing of his dementia condition. Hugh from Allsound immediately called us (Loryn – Owls PHCA vice-chair) to inform us and request permission (a necessary formality) to search footage on our CCTV cameras. Loryn granted same and immediately notified CPF chair, Cheryl Britz. On instruction, Loryn notified our restricted security cluster + our OWLS committee, who started searching right away. A little while later, with the relevant authority (required formality due to privacy issues at stake), Loryn then sent out a broader alert to our patrols group + Owls members (via our closed W/A groups) + general residents (via other W/A groups). The reaction was immediate with patrollers combing the area back and forth “on the ground”. Simultaneously, in the background, we had to, as a priority, find the thread of which cameras he had passed giving us the route he had taken. Armed with this information, but bearing in mind that over 2 hours had now already passed, the search could be targeted to a specific area, but without excluding the broader possibility that he may have exited the neighbourhood into town or even further afield.
So the call went out far and wide very quickly, and residents from all over town were responding to the search, many combing town areas while our direct OWLS efforts focused on the area where our information indicated he would most likely be. The last time he was seen on camera was in Short street in the late morning, just up from the N2/Main Road.
A point of note is that we received a few “red herrings” that we believe were meant constructively, but turned out NOT to be the man we were searching for. So the information sifting continued into the afternoon. By mid-afternoon we had exhausted vehicle patrol efforts and felt the need to go to a search on foot, combing deep into the bushes along Short Street, where we had further reports of him being spotted. At this point, he was clearly not on the roads and we felt he may have stumbled into the bushes or tried to take a shortcut, and in the process injured himself, possibly rendering himself unconscious. The foot search, of course, is much slower but with a broad buy-in by several residents, we were able to comb deep into the bush, even in places where he was unlikely to have ventured, just in case.
Late afternoon we received the break we were praying for – a crucial lead from a prominent resident, saying he had seen Mr Goument shortly before midday, in the very area we were searching so finely. We had by now combed the public area thoroughly but to no avail, so we knew he had to be in a compromised position, not in plain view. Now 8 hours into his ordeal and with daytime running out on us, we knew how crucial it was to find him in the next few hours – it was felt he would not be likely to survive a night of exposure. We now feared the search would have to go into the night and accordingly, the call was starting to go out for additional appropriate mobilisation.
Working the logic, Loryn put out a desperate call for all residents to please check their own yards as well as that of neighbours on either side. 25 minutes later, with evening upon us, we received the great news that he had been found by the partner (Candice) of non-other than our own previous Owls PHCA chairman Jerome Simonis. By good fortune, Candice had investigated a dog barking incessantly, and so found him. Mr Goument had somehow made his way into a secluded limited access area between 2 neighbouring properties. The ground in there (grassed and with flowering gum pods aplenty) slopes significantly down toward town, and he must have lost his footing as a result. Consequently, he tumbled down the slope, coming to rest against a wooden fence where he lay for the next several hours. He probably fell asleep there due to exhaustion (Penny says he would never have been able to get up on his own again). By now it was heading toward 18.00 – just in the nick of time before last light!
Medical services were promptly called and the broad community was advised. Mr Goument was taken to hospital to be checked out and thereafter released to spend the night at home with his very relieved wife.
Thanks once again to all who responded to the call, many of you we don’t even know – we have had word of people responding even from the other side of town and searching far and wide. From the many posts we can track, we would estimate that over 200 man hours went into this search – that’s over 8 full 24 hour days! And that’s excluding the many respondents we didn’t even know were also searching the town. A magnificent example of community spirit if ever there was one.
In conclusion, Penny sent us this very kind message this morning;
There is no way I can thank you all enough for the amazing response in the search for my husband Chris who went missing yesterday (Sunday the 15th). The Knysna community is absolutely incredible and if it hadn’t been for the sterling effort in the search I guess we would still be trying to find him. He is well, no injuries and was put straight to bed with some food and something to drink and fell asleep and he is still resting.
Penny Goument, 16 September 2019.
Thank you all again, and again.